Lost Without You
by Falling4Halstead
Summary: When Erin Lindsay is kidnapped one night after Nadia's death, her Intelligence Team and Halstead are left to piece together the evidence and find her before it's too late. One Shot. Linstead I wrote this before the Season 3 premiere.


The front doors of the District 21 station crashed open, and Jay Halstead nearly collided with two patrolmen on the steps as he dashed up them, racing into the precint.

Sergeant Platt gave him a measured look of concern as he rushed past the front desk, up another set of steps, and slapped his hand onto the cage leading up to the bullpen. He was doing his best to hold back tears as he quickly punched in his access code and let the machine read his prints. The gate swung open with a click.

"Where is she? Who has her?" The words fell from his mouth before he was even at the top of the steps. Ruzek and Dawson turned to look at him. Halstead flung his jacket into his chair and walked up to the front of the room, where Voight was standing near the whiteboard. Erin's picture was the only thingp plastered to it.

"Sarge...you've got to tell me something. What do we know?" Jay pleaded with his boss. Voight glanced around the room at the detectives behind Halstead, and then at his feet.

"Jay," Voight started, clapping a hand to Halstead's shoulder, "we're working on it." That was almost Voight's signature phrase, he said it so much. Jay should have known they hadn't come up on anything since he'd gotten the call early that morning stating his now-ex-partner, Erin Lindsay, had been abdutced as she walked home from Molly's. There were two witnesses, who said a blacked-out vehicle was involved, two men had jumped out and grabbed Erin, and no shots had been fired.

Jay ran his hand over his face and plopped down on the edge of his desk.

"Olinsky is interviewing our two witnesses right now, trying to get more details. Atwater took Burgess and Roman and they're obtaining video surveillance from businesses on the street where she was taken. It's not much to go on yet, but the details will start rolling in soon." Voight explained, tapping his knuckles on the mostly empty whiteboard.

"Why would someone want to abduct Erin in the first place?" Ruzek asked, raising his eyebrows. He had the end of a pen stuck in his mouth and he was chewing on it.

"Are any of her old pals contacting her?" Dawson asked, looking up from behind his desk.

"I don't know," Voight started. "Jay, get her file will you? We'll start cross referencing everyone. I'm going to go talk with a few CI's who Lindsay hung out with back in the day. You three survey her file and see if there's anything that might jump out at you. When you're done, head over to the CFD and talk to the guys who were at Molly's last night." Jay nodded his head and went in search of Erin's file, returing a few moments later. He flipped it open and pulled out Lindsay's information. Ruzek and Dawson gathered around him, peering into the open folder.

As the three of them gazed down at the papers in the file, Halstead racked his own brain silently. He wouldn't have even known if someone was trying to hurt Erin. It'd been eight weeks since she quit, handing over her to badge to Voight. Most of the time even Hank couldn't get a hold of her, and he certainly had no clue where she was.

Olinsky came down the hallway from the interrogation room a few moments later, leading the two key witnesses. Jay jumped up from his seat. "Hey, what do you two remember seeing?"

The two girls looked apprehensively at each other and to Olinsky.

"It's okay, answer his question." Alvin told them. He sat on the edge of Erin's desk which was opposite from Jay's, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"We were on the other side of the intersection from her when a black car pulled up and two guys stepped out. It was dark except the street lights, but we couldn't make out their appearances. They grabbed her, and she struggled with them. I think she fell unconscious somehow, because they got her in the vehicle without her struggling anymore." The shorter of the two girls relayed, wringing her hands together.

"We're sorry we don't have anything more. We were pretty scared when we saw what was happening...and...it went down so quickly. We ran back into Molly's and called 911," said the shorter girl's friend.

Jay closed his eyes and ran his hands over his face. "Yeah, no...um, thanks. Every little bit helps. You're free to go now." The girls nodded and scampered down the stairs out of the bullpen.

"Fuck!" Jay screamed, slamming his hands against a metal file cabinet behind his desk.

Olinsky raised his eyebrows at the young detective. "Jay...keep your head on straight. We're going to find her. You losing your shit isn't going to help any, is it?" Jay looked over his shoulder at Alvin, his jaw tight.

"No...no, you're right. I'm gonna head to the CFD and talk to Hermann and Otis." Jay stated, picking up his jacket from his chair.

"I'll go with you," Ruzek added. Jay nodded and the two of them made their way down the steps, shutting the door to the bullpen behind them.

"Hey, Ruzek, Halstead, come 'ere." Platt called out to them, gesturing for them to come to the desk. Jay took several shaky steps in her direction, finally leaning against the counter to support himself. Platt glared down her nose at him. "Halstead, are you okay?"

He felt fine, he thought. Or, at least he had until his feet hit the floor of the lobby again. Had he eaten this morning before he rushed out of the house? No, probably not. He'd barely managed to dress himself before he left.

"Ruzek, get this man some food before he passes out. Halstead, come sit back here."

"B-but, we're going to CFD." Jay stammered, reluctantly following Platt's order.

"CFD can wait thirty minutes until you get your blood sugar back up, yeah?" Platt suggested, raising her eyebrows at him. Ruzek had taken off for the vending machine down the hallway. Platt sat Jay into a chair behind the desk and he let his head fall into his hands once again. He took a deep breath in, and let a huge sigh out.

"Jay..."

"Don't...don't 'Jay' me." Halstead's voice wavered, his right hand still covering his face. He could feel hot tears stinging the corners of his eyes. Platt put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed firmly. Ruzek returned a few moments later with a Vitamin Water, some candy bars, and some peanuts. He sat across from Jay and watched his colleague tentatively open the snacks and take a bite.

The front doors opened and Jay heard Burgess before he saw her. She was saying something, and he was in mid-bite of a candy bar when she, Atwater, and Roman came up to the front desk.

"...I can't believe it. Who turns off video surveillance in their business?" She finished saying. She hadn't seen Jay until then, and she gasped slightly. Jay looked bewildered. If there was no video surveillance of the abduction, things just got a lot harder.

"What?" Ruzek asked, wishing for clarification.

Burgess looked hesitantly between Atwater and Roman. "One of our pods had a clear shot of the scene, but we were hoping to also get a closer picture from the business right in front of where the abduction occurred..." Burgess started. "Only they shut it off because they've been doing renovations and apparently haven't had the need for it. I just don't get it. That's some shady shit right there-"

"Burgess..." Platt scolded. Kim dropped her eyes to the ground.

"So what's on the pod?" Jay asked. He was standing up now, having finished a candy bar and taken a few sips of the Vitamin Water. He was already feeling better.

"We haven't reviewed it yet." Atwater replied. "Let's go up and check it out." Ruzek and Jay nodded, and the two of them followed Atwater, Burgess, and Roman back up to the bullpen. Olinsky and Dawson were still hovered over Lindsay's file. They looked up when they heard the five others coming up the steps.

"Any good news?" Dawson asked.

"Hopefully we're about to get some clear pictures off the footage from the pod." Roman replied.

Atwater sat down at his desk and pulled up the Chicago PD Inner-City Pod Surveillance System. He logged in, put in the information for the pod they wanted, and it pulled up instantly. Atwater backtracked the video until a few minutes before the time of the abduction.

The footage on the computer screen was still and silent. Then the door opened to Molly's across the intersection, and two girls, the ones they'd interviewed, stepped out onto the sidewalk. They crossed the intersection to the other side of the street. A black van slid into view at the bottom of the screen, it's headlights shining brightly onto the front door of Molly's. They clicked off, and the street was dark again except for the streetlights.

Two minutes later, Molly's door opened again, and Jay immediately recognized the walk of the figure coming toward the van on the camera. In the black of the night, the van blended in well, and although she was a detective, she hadn't been herself since Nadia was murdered. She didn't even see them coming as she walked past. One man grabbed her under her arms, the other swung her feet right out from underneath her. She struggled, screaming, kicking and hitting her captors.

The man at her head reached a rag up to her face and held it there for what seemed like forever, but was only half a minute. Erin went limp in their arms, her cries for help immediately silenced. Jay backed up quickly, spun around, and vomited into the nearest trash can.

"So much for getting his blood sugar back up." Ruzek said quietly, watching Jay reel over the trash bin and continue to empty his stomach's contents.

"Oh my God," Burgess broke the silence aside from Jay's sputtering. "Roll it back again, Kevin." Atwater did as she said, and Kim told him to pause it a second later. "License plate number!"

As the van began to pull out into the intersection, the rear lights illuminated the license plate number. With the footage paused, the two girls who had been interviewed could be seen on the opposite corner, hands covering their mouths in shock. Burgess was frantically scraping around on the desk for a pen and notepad while Kevin zoomed in in order to get a closer image of the plate number.

Jay was sitting in a chair now, and wasn't paying much attention. Ruzek handed him his Vitamin Water to put some fluid back into his system.

Voight's footsteps caught everyone's attention as he walked into the bullpen. He was staring at a notepad in his right hand, and looked up at his entire team and the two patrolmen surrounding the one computer; saw Jay sitting in a chair, slumping down, with a sheen of sweat on his forehead; saw the optimistic looks on Burgess and Roman's faces, and stopped in his tracks.

"What's going on?" He questioned, tilting his head to the side.

"Look that up, now!" Dawson exclaimed, and Olinsky answered Voight.

"We got the plate number from the van that took her, Hank. It was that easy. They're amateurs. We're going to find her."

A flood of relief washed over Voight's face. "Get on it. I want to know everything about the men driving that van. Priors, who they might be working with, where they hole up, and get an APB out, quietly, for that vehicle. I want to know if it makes a move on our streets." The team quickly scurried to their own desks aside from Jay, and Burgess and Roman took off downstairs again, in charge of putting an APB out and stationing themselves at a staging area to await further instruction.

Voight turned his attention to Jay.

"You heard Olinsky, Jay. We're going to find her." He put his hand on Jay's shoulder and caught his gaze, reaffirming his sentence with a purse of his lips.

* * *

Forty-five minutes later, three undercover SUV's were hauling full speed toward a warehouse on the outskirts of Chicago. An undercover officer, Kyle McHale, from District 24, had spotted the vehicle and followed it discreetly, immediately radioing the news and calling for backup.

Voight slowed his SUV down as he approached Officer McHale's vehicle which was a block away from the warehouse on the opposite side of the street. Jay, who was in the passenger seat, hopped out and climbed in the other car. Voight had instructed him to stay here with McHale until the scene was secure, and Erin was safe. He didn't want Jay making a drastic move.

"How's it going?" McHale asked Jay. Kyle McHale was a few years older than Jay.

"Better." Jay muttered, shaking McHale's hand. "Thanks to you."

McHale smirked and held his radio close, waiting for the signal to go ahead.

"What did you see when you got here?" Jay asked. There hadn't been any mention of McHale seeing Erin, but maybe that information had just been withheld from him. He'd be furious if she had been seen, and he hadn't been told, however.

"I hung back here where I knew I could watch him, but he couldn't watch me," Kyle began. The 'him' he was referring to, was either one of the perps who was believed to had taken Erin. The team had only been able to figure out the name of the driver, who was the vehicle's owner - Tommy Knight. "He had bags, looked like they were from the grocery store. He carried about five in that door, right there." Kyle pointed to a door at the back of the warehouse, about twenty feet in front of where the vehicle was parked.

"You know, he's not very smart for parking a vehicle used in an abduction in clear, plain view, even if it is in the outskirts of town." Jay observed, biting his lip.

McHale nodded in agreement, and both men stared straight ahead, watching as the rest of Jay's team surrounded the warehouse. Burgess and Roman blocked an entrance in their patrol car, and two SWAT trucks came pulling up behind McHale's car, driving toward the building.

Jay watched with anticipation as he saw Voight make the first move. Olinsky and Dawson flanked him on either side, guns drawn, ready to fire. Atwater, with the large steel cylinder they use to break open locked doors, followed up behind them, ready for Voight's signal. The SWAT team divided into four separate groups and darted around edges of the building, working to secure the perimeter.

The patrol car was eerily silent as Jay and Kyle watched the detectives enter the building. It felt like Jay had cotton balls in his ears, stifling out the sound. Their ringing reverberated in his skull as he glanced at the clock on the dash, waiting for the numbers to skip to the next, signaling a minute had passed.

One.

Two.

Two minutes and Jay was sure they wouldn't find Erin now if they hadn't already.

Three.

Four.

Crackling noises emanated from the men's radios. Jay exchanged a worried glance with Kyle, his hand sliding to the door handle, ready to leap out at the first sound of a voice drifting through from the other end, telling him they had Erin. That she was OK.

Five.

"God, they have to have her by now." Kyle muttered, looking down into his lap.

Gunshots echoed suddenly and Jay jumped in his seat. He made a move to exit the vehicle, but Kyle laid his hand on Jay's chest and stopped him. "Voight said not to let you in that building until he gives the okay." For a second, the look on Jay's face made Kyle think he might fight him, but then he felt Jay relax reluctantly back into the passenger seat.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

White noise scattered over the radio, and then Voight's deep, gravelly voice rang through clear. "Halstead, get in here. Now."

Jay looked at Kyle and pushed the door open, not even bothering to shut it behind him. He sprinted down the street and cut across it, his feet pounding the pavement so hard he was sure his legs would hurt tomorrow. He didn't care. He'd never wanted to run so fast in his life.

The door of the warehouse banged against the side as Jay swung it open. His mind raced as he entered the building, unsure of where exactly to go. The warehouse was huge, with several rooms off the main floor. Boxes, large vats which once churned something, pipes, and platforms made navigating at a run difficult.

He heard voices up ahead, and something clanged into a metal pipe.

"Voight?!" Jay hollered.

"Over here, Jay!" He heard Hank call back to him, his voice drifting in from up ahead, toward the right. He headed in that direction, pushing off the vats with his hands in order to dart around them. Jay slowed his pace as he came closer, noticing a body laying fifteen feet away, blood pooling beneath it.

And then he saw her. She was sitting on a stack of pallets, Voight's leather jacket draped around her shoulders, and the whole team standing around her. Her hair was tangled, and her skin was slightly dirty, her complexion pale. Jay knew some of her appearance was from her being upset about Nadia, and from the way she was managing her pain. His eyes searched her for blood; a little on her forehead, a cut on her thigh where her jeans were ripped open, but that was it.

Her eyes drifted up his figure, rolling slowly. When they met his own, he could barely stop the sob that rushed past his lips.

"...Jay..." Erin's voice sounded weak, but she smiled at him. He closed the space between them and engulfed her in a hug as she stood up.

Jay wrapped his arms tightly around her, pulling in her scent, relishing the feel of her smaller body pulled safely to his own, her arms wrapped around his waist. He took a deep breath in and sighed. Erin rubbed her hand up his back and whispered in his ear. "I'm okay."

"Where the hell is that other son of a bitch?!" Jay looked over his shoulder at Voight and the rest of the team a few seconds later, his eyes darting between them and the body lying on the floor.

"Jay-," Voight started, but Jay wouldn't hear it. He and Erin broke apart from their hug, and Jay turned to face his sergeant.

"Voight...there's only one body lying on the floor. Where's the other suspect?"

"He's in custody." Voight stated simply, his lips forming a straight line. "You don't need to worry about it."

Halstead looked up toward the ceiling of the warehouse in order to maintain his composure. Of course he didn't _need_ to worry about it, but he was still going too. He was sure he'd have his chance alone with the other suspect eventually.

Burgess, whom had entered the building with Roman after the contact to Halstead had been made, made a little noise in the back of her throat, and spoke, "We should probably get Erin to the hospital." She made eye contact with several of the detectives as they looked in her direction. When her eyes met Erin's, she stammered, "Oh-o-or not."

"No, that's a good idea," Voight agreed, "Come on, Erin, let's get you checked out."

"Hank," Erin's deep raspy voice was full of sincerity as she looked at her father figure. "I'm fine, really. I don't need to go to the hospital."

Voight and the others looked at her. Erin could tell they were doing their best to consider whether or not this was true. Voight pursed his lips and tilted his head, thinking. "You don't have an option. You've already been through so much and now this. Come on."

Erin started to protest again, but this time Jay was the one who spoke. "Erin...Hank's right." He stepped closer to her and dropped his voice to a whisper, his lips brushing her ear so only she could hear what he said next. "Did...did they do anything to you?" Erin could hear his voice break with the question.

She shook her head no, and Jay could tell from the look in her eyes that she was telling the truth. He reached his hand out to hers and their fingers laced together. Voight noticed the gesture, but he wasn't about to say anything. Erin was still in a rocky place. She needed all the support she could get; and if that support came from Halstead, then he'd just have to deal with it.

"Let's go home." Voight said, and everyone nodded. Jay and Erin followed Voight's lead, with the rest of the team following up behind them, enveloping Erin with their security.

With Voight's back to theirs, Jay looked to Erin and let his tongue dart across his lips briefly She smirked at him and quickly stood up on her tiptoes to kiss him.

* * *

 **Please leave me feedback! Should I continue this and expand it from a one shot to a full fledged story?**


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